Fretlight Guitars teaches by lighting up the fretboards

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So you think you have what it takes to rock out on a guitar? Unfortunately, just because you have conquered expert level on Guitar Hero, doesn’t necessarily mean you can pick up a six string and start shredding in front of a full stadium. For those of you, though, that would like to move from the plastic peripheral and learn how to really play a guitar, there is a company that offers special guitars that not only play like the real thing (that’s because they are), they also include hidden lights to make it easier to learn how to play.{ad}

Optek Music Systems has created a line of guitars named Fretlight that have hidden lights embedded underneath the guitar’s fretboard. These special guitars plug into a Mac or PC via a USB port and work with software called the Fretlight Video Player that not only display video tutoring, but they also cause the hidden lights on the guitar to illuminate.

As the instructor plays on the computer screen the corresponding tune also display the finger positions on the guitar in real-time. The idea behind the Fretlight is that by watching the finger positioning on the fret light-up as a tune plays, it makes it easier to learn versus watching a teacher and trying to imitate what they are doing.

Rusty Shaffer, President & CEO of Optek, said:

Most people today are visual learners … There are thousands of guitar videos on YouTube and other web sites, not to mention video games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band that people are trying to mimic. However, these videos and the toy instruments that come with the video games, do little to accelerate the learning process because finger placement is the biggest hurdle that individuals face when learning to play guitar. The Fretlight Video Player solves this problem because the teacher on the screen is literally triggering the guitar in your hands. It’s almost as if the teacher is reaching through the computer, grabbing your fingers and placing them in the right place. It’s truly a breakthrough for guitar education.

To see what Mr. Shaffer is talking about, check out this video to see how the Fretlight system works. After watching, if the Fretlight system has inspired you to learn how to play, Fretlight guitars are available from the company website starting at $399.95.

Also for you Mac users GarageBand ’09 now has the capability to teach music lovers how to learn to play the guitar and the piano.